Boy Scouts Kick The Can And Delay Inevitable Change To Anti-Gay Policy

Apparently intimidated by religious extremists within their ranks, the Boy Scouts of America elected to kick the can down the road, deciding that they needed more time before they scrap their discriminatory policy that unfairly targets and cruelly humiliates gay scouts. Here is their cowardly statement:

For 103 years, the Boy Scouts of America has been a part of the fabric of this nation, providing it’s youth program of character development and values-based leadership training. In the past two weeks, Scouting has received an outpouring of feedback from the American public. It reinforces how deeply people care about Scouting and how passionate they are about the organization.

After careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization, the volunteer officers of the Boy Scouts of America’s National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberate review of its membership policy.

To that end, the executive board directed its committees to further engage representatives of Scouting’s membership and listen to their perspectives and concerns. This will assist the officers’ work on a resolution on membership standards. The approximately 1,400 voting members of the national council will take action on the resolution at the national meeting in May 2013.

Exactly what do they have to study? We all know that there are gay scouts who perform honorably, yet are immorally asked to habitually lie in order to appease the fragile sensibilities of fundamentalists who oppose the 21st Century. Here is the Human Rights Campaign’s take:

“Every day that the Boy Scouts of America delay action is another day that discrimination prevails,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Now is the time for action. Young Americans, gay and straight, are hurt by the inaction associated with today’s news. The BSA leadership should end this awful policy once and for all, and open the proud tradition of Scouting to all.”

Here is the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s take:

“An organization that serves youth and chooses to intentionally hurt dedicated young people and hardworking parents not only flies in the face of American principles, but the principles of being a Boy Scout,” said GLAAD President Herndon Graddick. “The Boy Scouts of America is choosing to ignore the cries of millions, including religious institutions, current scouting families, and corporate sponsors, but these cries will not be silenced. We’re living in a culture where hurting young gay people because of who they are is unpopular and discriminatory. They had the chance to end the pain this ban has caused to young people and parents, they chose to extend the pain.”

This disgrace that has tarnished the BSA continues as they bow to bigotry, at least in the short term. However, they should know that tomorrow will not be any kinder towards this antiquated policy than today. Each day, more Americans come to support equality and speak out in favor of their LGBT friends and family members. The BSA’s exclusionary policies run counter to most Americans’ standards of fairness and decency. The sooner the BSA joins the 21st Century, the better it will be for this organization’s future.

About the Author

Wayne Besen is the Founding Executive Director of Truth Wins Out and author of “Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth” (Haworth, 2003). In 2010, Besen was awarded the “Visionary Award” at the Out Music Awards for organizing the American Prayer Hour, an event which shined a spotlight on the role American evangelicals played in the introduction of Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

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8 Comments

John PatrickFebruary 6, 2013 at 12:10 pm -

I avoid the Boy Scouts when they have fundraisers at a local grocery store. I thought if they change their policy and decide to accept gay scouts and leaders, I would make some donations. But it looks like they have decided to ride the tide of antigay religious groups out to sea.

Peter HargmierFebruary 6, 2013 at 12:14 pm -

*eye-roll*

PaulFebruary 6, 2013 at 12:21 pm -

AT&T is the number one donor to the Boy Scouts. Guess what I did? I just canceled my service with them and told them exactly why I was doing so. I will not have my money used to further discrimination.

Paul DouglasFebruary 6, 2013 at 1:41 pm -

ATT has been a big Republicon donor for a long time (and LGBT people well know where we stand with those bozos). A good social and economic choice, Paul.

GianniFebruary 6, 2013 at 1:19 pm -

Apparently “character” and “values” are and cannot be part of being a gay person. The Boy Scouts teach “character” and “values” but not to gay scouts because being gay automatically excludes having those qualities and/or learning about them. Of course, “character” and “values”, in my mind, include such things as fairness, justice, kindness, consideration, caring, non-discrimination, acceptance of others, etc. Seems to me that the Boy Scouts and their discriminatory ideas are inconsistent with their stated values. The Scouts teach all of those things except it is OK to discriminate against gay people. KEEP THEM OUT, you value-laden Scouts!

Gianni,
You hit the nail on the head with your comment. I stopped donating to BSA years ago when I learned they refuse to allow Atheist boys to join, just as I stopped donating to the Salvation Army for their discriminatory stance. Until these organizations accept ALL people, regardless of religion or lack of it, and regardless of sexual orientation, they don’t deserve our support.

Jimminy CricketFebruary 7, 2013 at 8:25 pm -

pull up your big girl panties and get over it….some people will never see eye to eye with you…and trying to bully your way into a private organization just to get your way is shameful and hurts the ones who want to coexist peacefully with our neighbors….you all need to get a life worth living….

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